Often, surfaces of substrates do not include desired performance characteristics. The failure to include specific desired performance characteristics can result in surface degradation in certain environments, an inability to meet certain performance requirements, or combinations thereof. For example, in certain environments, metallic, glass, and ceramic surfaces can be subjected to undesirable surface activities such as chemical adsorption, catalytic activity, corrosive attack, oxidation, byproduct accumulation or stiction, and/or other undesirable surface activities.
Undesirable surface activities can cause chemisorption of other molecules, reversible and irreversible physisorption of other molecules, catalytic reactivity with other molecules, attack from foreign species, a molecular breakdown of the surface, or combinations thereof.
A coating may be applied to protect a surface from undesirable surface activities. One known method of depositing a coating on a surface is chemical vapor deposition. Chemical vapor deposition deposits a solid material from a vapor under a controlled atmosphere and temperature conditions for a predetermined time to form a coating. Chemical vapor deposition can include a primary treatment followed by functionalization (a surface reaction) to add predetermined molecules.
To provide certain desired performance characteristics, an amorphous silicon hydride surface can be deposited and unsaturated hydrocarbon reagents can be reacted to modify the surface of a substrate. Amorphous silicon-based chemical vapor deposition materials, however, are susceptible to dissolution by caustic high pH media, thereby limiting their use. These materials are not wear resistant or hard enough for effective use in environments with impact or sliding wear. Additionally, the functionalization of silicon materials with unsaturated hydrocarbons often requires the use of a metal catalyst. Such processes suffer from the drawbacks that complete removal of this catalyst from the treated system is often difficult and the presence of the catalyst can reintroduce undesirable surface activity.
Molecules including silicon, carbon, and hydrogen have previously been considered undesirable for use as chemical vapor deposition precursors or have been applied in conjunction with other chemical vapor deposition precursors in the presence of additional depositional energies such as plasma and microwave fields. Thus, properties associated with such molecules have previously been unrealized through thermal chemical vapor deposition technology.
What is needed is a coating, an article, and a method that does not suffer from the drawbacks of the prior art.